Where are Americans living abroad? If you are just beginning to plan your move to another country, you may have asked this very question. Knowing which countries are popular with American expats is a good way to determine which country may be right for you.
To help you decide, we looked at several U.S. Department of State estimates of Private American Citizens Residing Abroad to show you how quickly the expat population has grown over the last decade and how migration patterns have changed. We also share with you survey results from a study we conducted in 2011 on where Americans now would like to move. These differing perspectives hopefully will help you make the right move.
In July 1999, the U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs compiled a list of countries that answered the question: “Where are Americans living abroad.” Nearly 4.1 million Americans, excluding U.S. military and non-military government employees, were living in another country in 1999. This type of information is rare indeed since the government very infrequently publishes estimates of where Americans are living abroad.
The two most popular countries for Americans share our continental U.S. border. Mexico was by far the leading destination, holding 25 percent of all American expats or just over 1 million. Canada came in a strong number two with nearly 17 percent or close to 700,000 American expats.
Three countries were grouped closely. Nearly 5.5 percent of Americans called the United Kingdom home, followed by Germany at 5.2 percent and Italy with 4.1 percent. Rounding out the top 20 were: the Philippines, Australia, France, Spain, Israel, Dominican Republic, Greece, Japan, China, Ireland, Brazil, Poland, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Belgium.
Fourteen years later, the U.S. Department of State again released estimates of where Americans are living abroad and the number of American expats living abroad. The new government estimate (January 2013) placed the American expat population at 6.89 million, about a 68 percent increase over the 1999 estimate and a 9.4 percent increase over its 6.3 million estimate in July 2012.. In fact, if all American expats were placed in one state, it would be the fourteenth most populous state in the U.S.
By region, the Americas lead with over 2.6 million American expats residing in the lands from Canada to South America. Europe is second with over 1.6 million, followed by the Near East, East Asia and Pacific, South Central Asia and Africa.